Prynne about died when the guards began to question them, doing all in her power not to give away any indication that she was nervous. For years she had trained herself to swallow her emotions, to act the perfect, obedient wife no matter what the situation was. Be it the bedroom, with her sister wives, or among guests, Prynne had swallowed any emotion and only ever shown patience, grace, obedience, kindness, and contentment.
She could recall her first lesson in masking her emotions as a child, when she had been unhappy with a playmate taking her toy from her. Her playmate happened to be the song of a very prominent merchant, and she recalled her nursemaid pulling her aside, telling her that she must defer to those of higher status than she. Telling her that good girls were obedient and pliable, and that good girls became good wives or good priestesses, which were her only two options in life. At first she had been willful and resented this advice, but eventually she came to accept her role in life and in society because she wished only to make her family proud.
The only emotion she could not deny fully was her inherent curiosity, but she had learned to hide it from others by stashing books and objects in places others would not look. Her stolen moments of discovery occurred through the pages of books behind the high walls of first her father's household, and then her husband's. It had been the only way she had survived.
And so it was easier for her to hide her fear from the guard, keeping her eyes trained to the ground in a show of modesty as he questioned Ruvyk. She did not speak or reply to the guards' inquiry, nor was it expected of her. If they were to believe Ruvyk her husband, then she should defer all matters to him unless directly addressed. "Do not speak unless spoken to." She mentally chimed the rule to herself, though she wished she could say something more to make the guards suspend their suspicions. Listening to Ruvyk's confidence calmed her fears, and the way he easily handled the situation made her feel once again that she had been very fortunate to have met him.
As he led her through the city, Prynne did her best to take in as much of it as she could without seeming suspiciously interested. Posters were hung up all over the city demanding her capture, but her curiosity was more about seeing the city for the first time in her life. All her life she had lived here, yet she had never been allowed to wander its streets. As a child she had been sheltered in her father's compound, and as a young woman she had been confined to her husband's. Even her delivery from her father's household to her husband's had not allowed her the opportunity to see the streets, for she had been carried on a heavily curtained litter through the city to protect her modesty.
Up until this point, the most she had seen of the city had been what little she could see from the trees in their courtyards. Even then, it was very rare that she could find times when those gardens were empty of people, and of course she could not be seen climbing trees! So now, she looked around in awe at the city, relying on Ruvyk's arm to guide her while she was distracted.
Prynne felt disappointed as he finally led her inside his home, wanting to explore more of the city. Her disappointment was short lived as she looked around his house in awe at the various objects, forgetting how raw her feet felt or how sore her legs were from their journey. It was like a dragon's hoard from the old tales! Her fingers itched to pick up and examine the various objects, though she kept her hands clasped in front of her in self-restraint.
She wondered what his business was here in the city, and why a god would become a merchant... Questions burned inside of her, about him, about his home, about the various object around them. Questions she did not dare to ask. Still, it did not keep her from looking at things.
